Too Soon
by Kalai Eljahn
Summary: It wasn't supposed to happen this way. He wasn't supposed to kill himself. He wasn't supposed to, but he did. Oh, Ra. Setocentered, rated for suicide in first chapter. Feedback greatly encouraged.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay…this is my first posted fanfic, so hi. Read, enjoy if you do, review if you want to.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and as this is fan fiction I make no money from it.

Lost in my own world, desperately racing through it in search of something I could not find…

How could I have lost _again_? That was what the search was disguised as; an attempt to find a rational explanation for something that could only be rationally, sanely explained as simple chance. I knew that his deck was no better than mine; I knew that he played his cards less skillfully than I did. But so much of the game was left to luck; why did his always seem better than mine?

That was what the search disguised itself as. That was not what the search was. I knew the answer to my question; I did not want to know. So I denied it, and I spent pointless hours poring over my deck, wasted hours. I knew Mokuba worried about me.

He was right to worry.

The blood flowed from the deep cuts on my wrists, sinking into the cards, the shining white scales of the Blue-Eyes turning a violent crimson. The dragon stared up at me, accusingly; I had done so much, and Mokuba needed me, and Yugi needed me (I do not know why I thought this), and I was going to flee it all, abandon it, why? There was no answer. I did not know. My life had turned detached, dreamlike, before I slit my wrists, and it was that way now. I floated over my motionless body, seeing the blood, seeing without hearing Mokuba's anguished cry when he stepped into the room…and then there was a sound, and I was in darkness, and my feet were on solid ground. I was barefoot, and where I stood seemed to be on a sand-covered stone floor. I wore the robes of a high priest of Egypt. In my right hand rested the Millennium Rod. Though I could see nothing, I sensed I was in some sort of tunnel. I walked forward, warily, holding the Millennium Rod slightly in front of me. Soon, I saw the crack of light that meant I had reached a doorway. Voices were speaking, indecipherably, on the other side. Cautiously, I pushed the stone slab aside.

The light, at first, was blinding. I squinted into the whiteness, barely managing to make out a draconic form. Stepping forward, I at first thought I was looking into a mirror, but the other one of me looked away and hissed something to another Egyptian—Yugi, I saw—before looking back at me.

"What is the meaning of this, Seth?" demanded Yugi of the other me, in the voice he used while dueling. Seth looked at me warily.

"I do not know, O Pharoh," he said curtly. "He looks like me." And he stared at me oddly, with the same half-memory that plagued _me_. "Who are you?"

Finally, there was a damn Egyptian who didn't know any more than I did. Strange place to go after death, though…I mean, Egypt…well, everyone had been obsessed with Egypt, so it was no doubt on my mind as it went through its last convulsions.

"Seto Kaiba," I answered truthfully. Recognition flashed in both their eyes at the name 'Seto', but puzzlement at 'Kaiba'…All three of us turned as a woman who looked remarkably like Ishizu walked into the room and up to me.

"You're too soon," she said worriedly, without preamble. "It'll mess up the whole thing. You weren't supposed to die for several years…" Strange, but then, I'd just killed myself.

"Die?" Seth asked, realization dawning on his face. He looked at me again. "Oh, Ra."


	2. Talking To Myself

—Chapter Two—Talking to myself—  
A/N: Many thanks twice AngelicMercy! (HmWhat is many2?)  
Second chapter! Hurrah! I'm actually writing more, might even get semi-regular updates, possibly even gasp finish it or (depending on how many chapters it is) get to chapter five! Hope readers enjoy this!  
Disclaimer: Rather obvious, I'd think. Don't own, make no money. To sue me one would have to trace my e-mail or find out from someone I know anyways, though, and then one would lose the legal battle because of this disclaimer and where I'm posting the writing, and I'd just sue whoever was suing me back for violation of privacy or some such and win. Hah.

the pharaoh/Yugi asked sharply. What do you mean, Isis? So the woman's name was Isis.  
This man here is the reincarnation of Seth, oh my pharaoh, she explained calmly, bowing her head to him in respect. _I _was the reincarnation of Seth. This sounded too much like the rubbish Yugi kept endlessly trying to convince me of. Great. I die and find out the afterlife isn't any different? Next thing Isis would start talking about how they'd have to use friendship to bring me back to life.  
/Aren't they annoying? Always going on about how some preconceived notion of destiny of theirs has to be fulfilled./ Seth was looking at me. Nobody else had heard him, apparently, because the pharaoh Yugi and Isis kept talking. I tuned out their words, for what they said held no interest for me.  
/Indeedthey're just as bad in my world. What is _your_ equivalent of torment by friendship speeches/ That we were communicating telepathically did not disturb me at all. In fact, it was rather reassuring, an indication that this was all taking place in my mind anyway—a last nightmare before oblivion.  
/Obedience to the Pharaoh./ An undercurrent of disgust and grudging admiration ran through his thoughtspeech. I rolled my eyes in sympathy. Having to /pretend to/ serve Yugi _had _to be one of the most frustrating things in either of our worlds.  
/Pretend to/ The Egyptian's interjection roused my curiosity. /What, are you the villain who unleashes the shadows on us'? It's only pretending if you do something that does _not_ serve him./ Part of what Ishizu said had included stuff about a duel between me and Yugi. I recalled the predictions easily, despite having listened only peripherally. As I remembered, during the tournament, I was supposed to lose to Ishizu, give her back Obelisk, then obtain the Millennium Rod and duel Yugi. With both duels in the tournament. Yeah right.  
Seth smiled coldly. /My goal is to defeat the Pharaoh. It has permeated my every thought and emotion; it is an obsession. Akefia, the King of Thieves, wants the shadows to be unleashed, and through him I can bring the pharaoh down. Your existence indicates he failed in your reality. But you are here too soon. Our fates are not so tame a thing as Isis believes./ I stared at him for a second. /Yes, I am perfectly aware they are standing only five feet away from us./  
There was a silence of a few seconds, during which Isis and the pharaoh Yugi looked at me. They must have asked a question.  
My younger brother Mokuba, I answered, still not entirely certain what the question had been but finding the answer first. The pharaoh Yugi turned and beckoned for us to follow. Isis walked toward him.  
Seth spoke, I have an idea on how to get my reincarnation back to his proper time. I request permission to explore this. /I must talk to you alone./  
/The mind link lets you talk to me alone./  
/The mind link is insufficient./  
Very well, the pharaoh Yugi answered, and he and Isis vanished into the light that had blinded me when I first came here.  
Come with me, Seth spoke aloud. /I _will_ defeat the Pharaohand _you_ will help./  
Why should I? I retorted sharply. Think. For supposedly being _me_, what you're doing doesn't seem too smart. You really think you can just order someone who wants death around at your bidding?  
I do. The Egyptian raised the Millennium Rod he held, an exact twin of the one in my hand. Realization belatedly surged through me, and I raised the Rod I was holding in a vain attempt to counter the shadow magic flowing toward me.  
/No! You/ My mind was slowing, the churning of rage fading until coherence was no longer possible, and it was so exhausting keeping control of my bodyThe presence in my mind that was myself, but different offered to control the body for me, so that I could rest. /Of/ I thought, before drifting into unconsciousness._  
_


	3. Metaphor

**A/N:** Thank you reviewer!

KFF: Glad you liked it! I'll keep it going, definitely!

**Disclaimer**: I don't even _want_ to own Yu-gi-oh; I don't think I'd do very well at all at handling it. Intention of this fan fiction is not to make money. I also do not own any other copyrighted material that may appear in this.

This is not a typical near-death experience. Mokie'd talked about them back when he wanted to be a neurologist or psychologist or something. A typical NDE definitely does _not_ involve psycho priests with mind control.

But then, I'm far from normal.

"Nii-sama…please…" Mokuba whispered, staring helplessly as the paramedics tried to revive his older brother, whose skin was even paler than normal due to blood loss. The bloodied rags Mokuba had desperately wrapped around his brother's wrists were still there, though wrapped in bandages, the ragged-edged cloth somehow a metaphor…a metaphor for what? Mokuba seized upon this tangent, desperate to think about something other than the seconds left until his brother's life could never be regained…

The scales of the dragon before me shone a violent crimson. A violent crimson. Stained by my blood.

Seth stood behind me, grasping the Millennium Rod tightly, his eyes betraying the first hint of fear I'd seen. The golden rod was in my hand, still. That was surprising. I would have taken it away…

"Tell me how you did that." The fear leaked through the command, along with just a hint of ambition. I smiled and stroked the lowered head of the dragon, letting the blood coat my hand.

"No." Seth's eyes blazed with anger. Excellent. I _did _wish I knew what it was I had done, though… "Give me one reason to." A sly smile appeared on his face.

"Your obsession: to defeat _him_." I knew he meant Yugi. Why wouldn't he _think_, already…?

"I committed suicide, Egyptian," I stated flatly. "How long is it going to take you to get that?" He snarled in surprised anger.

"I do not believe I would do so," he replied just as flatly, staring at me. "You are weak, and I am ashamed that I was reborn as you." I stepped closer to him, hatred twisting my thoughts. How dare he judge me so! I wanted to bring him down. I wondered thoughtfully how I could do so.

"But you do not know _why_," I whispered softly, letting malice drip from my voice like the blood from my hand.

"It doesn't matter. You're still weak." His voice remained flat.

"I killed myself because I won…against _him_."

A metaphor…The two ragged edges where the rag had been ripped in two stood starkly against the white hospital bandages. Black on white. A chessboard, with each side of pawns trying to reach the other but having to battle the other pieces…The rags and bandages were a metaphor for life and death, each struggling against the other, a game with the highest of stakes...

Mokuba accessed the data for neurological and hormonal scans of Seto during his last duel with Yugi, giving the information to the emergency doctors so that they could recreate the sense of being in the duel that mattered to him the most. The doctors did not question, but merely obeyed, a sign they had lost hope. No. He couldn't die.

Seto had lost every duel against Yugi that Mokuba had seen. He must not lose this one, for however much the duels against Yugi mattered to Seto, this one mattered more.

**A/N: **Hm…poor Mokie's not stopping to think that his brother committed suicide, either…interesting, how this is turning out…Review, and I will be happy. Thanks again reviewers!


	4. Gods' Echo

**A/N: **Heh, I have eight reviews! Thanks to all reviewers! I will keep updating, I just hope I can maintain the quality of my writing now the third chapter's over…this one's rather short, but it moves the plot a bit. Still no duel yet, though…

KFF: I never really intended to have them arrive, in the future universe, seeing as this is all taking place in a time span of at most a half-hour…sorry…

LordFluffyLoverOfPain: Thank you. That was my intention.

Solitudity: grins Glad ya like it.

/words/ Seth to Seto /words/ Seto to Seth

"I killed myself because I won…against _him_." Seth stared at me, disbelieving, yet I knew he would rather believe what I had said than the truth. _I didn't know…_

"Prove it," he answered, suddenly smiling.

/How/

"If you defeated him once without my help, you can defeat him again _with_ my help." I knew that refusing this time would look weak—it would _be_ weak—so I nodded curtly. Seth touched the tip of his Millennium Rod to mine.

There was a lingering flash of blinding white light, like I had seen when I first opened the doorway to this world. Against this light I saw two sets of memories of my life, quickly passing scenes. The main background of one was the stone and sand of ancient Egypt, and of the other modern steel and brightly colored fabrics. I was being left at the orphanage when my parents were killed by the shadow monsters and I was forced to wander the city alone. _Mokuba wasn't there._ When I won the chess game, I had won a game involving gemstone figurines in seven different colors against a former high priest. Taking over KaibaCorp is equivalent to becoming a high priest.

"It's been fifteen minutes, sir. The chances of reviving him…" It was a doctor speaking, gently. Mokuba glared at him.

"I don't care. Keep trying...!" His voice trailed off into a sob.

I opened my eyes, the last of the glare fading. Two lives…two lives that I had lived. _Who am I?_ I am both Seth and Seto. I am the priest of Set, reenacting the murder of Osiris with the pharaoh Atemu as Osiris; Yugi was Horus, son of Osiris, and he would kill me. (1) I knew now that it wasn't Seto who had won against Yugi, but Seth who would win against Atemu. That was my fate, to be an echo of the gods.

I knew that I would have to act by the script I was given _here_ to be able to alter it in the future, and even if Seto did not, Seth had the will to live.

"I challenge you, my Pharaoh, to a shadow game." It was too soon to try this, like Isis had said, but then I wasn't particularly inclined to wait for Horus—Yugi—to kill me so that I could duel Atemu after serving him for the 'correct' amount of time. "A game to determine who is worthy of being Pharaoh."

Twenty minutes. No. Mokuba stared at his brother desperately, willing a miracle, something, anything. No.

"Sir…it's been twenty minutes. He's...it is too late." Mokuba did not reply, did not even glance at the speaker, but just kept staring at the whiteness of his brother's skin, the stain of red where blood had seeped through the bandages. He willed Seto's chest to move, for him to draw breath, for his heart to beat, anything, any movement other than the cold stillness of death.

(1) In Egyptian mythology, the god of evil and darkness Set murders Osiris and steals his throne. Osiris's son Horus kills Set.


	5. Complete

**A/N:** Final update! I've completed this…someone gasp. I've actually completed my first fan fiction. o.o

Zebra Girl: Heh, I'm being evil, am I? Yeah, I am…I definitely know you, person who used my first name that I have not once revealed online. I definitely know you.

Phantom of blood: yeah…I'm touched that my writing is good enough for you to care…

Solitudity: Yeah, it's hard on Mokuba…I am very glad you like it. Is whenever this is up soon enough?

In answer to my challenge, the air between the pharaoh and I crackled with electricity. The stone walls around us faded into darkness, as did the floor beneath our feet, though we did not fall. To my surprise, the stone tablets that sealed the Shadow monsters vanished as well, and Atemu and I floated alone in the realm of nightmares, golden Items glowing softly. This was not to be a duel as I had fought them, a game as I had played, but a pure battle between souls.

"Is this how you are going to return Seto to his time?" Atemu asked softly, the barest hint of a smile fleeting across his proud but weary face.

"It is." A bolt of what looked like lightning arced between us, connecting us and beginning the duel.

Atemu possessed great mastery over the shadows, but so long had they been chained by this pharaoh, wandering in their own darkness, thirsting ever to consume the light they so rarely beheld. I whispered to the creatures that flowed around us, promising freedom, exploiting Atemu's weakness, manipulating all but his most loyal servants.

But the darkness was hungry, drawn to me more than the pharaoh I fought, for I was less protected. My rod glowed more brightly.

"Seth, you'll get both our souls ripped apart!" hissed Atemu as I resorted to sheer willpower to direct my attackers toward my foe. I said nothing, just grinned with a touch of insanity, the reflection of the lightning a maniacal gleam in my eyes.

Briefly, I glimpsed Isis's face against the pale stone, though the shadows were all the darker. There was a breach. The monsters were trying to escape.

"No! I can't let them escape again…" Atemu whispered. Sensing his weakness, I used the power of my Millennium Rod while he was distracted to twist his will, barely, to the side of a choice that he was already considering. "I…resign."

The bolt connecting vanished, and the storm around us gradually faded. The pharaoh had collapsed onto his knees, shuddering slightly, body glistening with sweat. My hair and robes were damp as well. Isis stood behind me, back against the wall, watching what was happening with horrified disbelief.

"Do what you will," commanded the rival I had spent two lifetimes trying to defeat. "The throne of Pharaoh is yours."

I sealed his soul in the puzzle and broke it into its pieces. It would not be solved until Yugi received it, I knew.

"Give me the Tauk," I commanded Isis, raising the Millennium Rod menacingly when she did not respond. She tore her gaze from the soulless but breathing body that slumped against the throne of the pharaoh, staring at me with flames smoldering behind her insert eye color here eyes as she calmly handed me the Millennium Tauk. I take it from her, staring into the Eye of Anubis, summoning the latent Shadow power in both it and in my Rod, casting my mind into the future where my eyes scanned the paper vessels of the Shadows.

…

I know why I lost to Yugi, though of course I will never accept that there is no other way. Destiny is not set like a computer program, but dynamic, changeable. Twice, I have won against Yugi, though only once against Horus. It was because of Mokuba that I won against Horus.

He could have killed me then, fulfilling both our destinies, but I know that he could not bring himself to do so. Yugi is not a murderer like Set or Horus.

The Blue Eyes stare up at me; they have been loyal servants through millennia, and now their scales stained a dark pink. Phantom blood bleeds from slashes that I can feel on my wrist. Mokuba walks into the room, smiling through one of my perspectives, horrified through another. His greeting and anguished cry blended into one alien sound before one of the visions grew dark in death.

I smiled at Mokuba.


End file.
